


lovesick (till i breathe my last breath)

by markyongmixtape



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, Basketball Player Mark Lee (NCT), Character Death, Fluff, Heavy Angst, Hospitals, Humor, Injured Mark Lee (NCT), Lee Donghyuck | Haechan is Whipped, M/M, Mark Lee (NCT) is Whipped, Sad, Sad Ending, Sick Character, Sick Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, donghyuck is paralyzed, just really really sad and poetic, mark injures his hip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-09 17:44:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20510414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/markyongmixtape/pseuds/markyongmixtape
Summary: Mark Lee is 7 months away from turning 16, when he first meets the beautiful enigma that is Lee Donghyuck.Mark Lee is 20, when he falls in love with the breathtaking enigma that is Lee Donghyuck.





	lovesick (till i breathe my last breath)

Mark Lee is 7 months away from turning 16, when he first meets the beautiful enigma that is Lee Donghyuck.

He’s just been admitted to the hospital after a basketball game and a horrible fall, for something he had never heard of before: _ Snapping Hip Syndrome. _

As he’s sitting in a hospital bed, waiting for the doctor to come around and give him a look over, a boy wheels in, and Mark is instantly mesmerized at the sun-kissed skin, bleached hair and eyes that sparkle like the stars. 

The boy quickly introduces himself as Lee Donghyuck, introduces his reason for being in the hospital as unknown.

“I was bitten by a parasite on a vacation, and my legs are paralyzed now. Apparently the paralysis is slowly moving up my body. The doctors still don’t know how to stop it. Crazy, huh?”

And he wastes no time pummeling Mark with questions, leaving him no time to process Donghyuck’s words.

Mark answers them dutifully, answering his questions of a favorite color and favorite place, but he falters when the next words leave Donghyuck’s mouth.

“What’s wrong with you?”

And the way Donghyuck words it, his tone and his expression, leave Mark realizing that he’s not asking about his physical wellness. It hits a little deeper, and Mark feels vulnerable, exposed to this boy who rivals the sun in his intensity and beauty.

“I’m lonely.” He says quietly, the words etching into the thick air between them, and Donghyuck is silent for a second, eyes searching his face.

“I can be lonely with you.” His smile never wavers, not even once, and it leaves Mark even more curious to unfold this mysterious enigma in front of him, to figure out what he’s hiding.

—-

Mark Lee is 5 months away from turning 16 when he’s discharged from the hospital after 2 months. 

Truth be told, he had never had more fun than when he was goofing around with Donghyuck in the hospital, from playing video games in the kids center to sneaking into the break rooms and stealing coffee and sugar packets. He had never had more fun than when they had made cereal necklaces for each other, eventually eating it all.

And he had never had more fun than when he had given Donghyuck his silver necklace he had gotten from his mother and when Donghyuck had given him a golden ring from his older brother. It felt like a promise, to be best friends forever.

It aches to see Donghyuck pout when he adjusts his crutches and prepares to limp out the front doors with assistance from a doctor.

Donghyuck wheels closer.

“Come back soon. Only not injured.” He adds at the end, and Mark chuckles.

“I will.”

—-

Mark Lee is 3 months away from turning 18 when he is back at the hospital like he promised, but not uninjured like he promised.

He is banned from basketball for life, his hip completely dislocated and rendered immovable. He is told that he will be on crutches or a wheelchair for a while, a longer while than he may hope.

Mark remembers the mixed look of joy and sorrow on a certain 17 year old boy’s face as he wheels into Mark’s room, mature sculpted features graced with a fond smile as he stops his wheelchair near Mark’s bed, bumps his arm gently, and says, “Talk to me.”

Mark can’t speak for a few seconds, lost in the brighter beauty that is Lee Donghyuck, his aura so bright he has to fight to look him in the eye. He feels pale and small in comparison, weak next to the strong and brave boy in the wheelchair.

But he talks. He talks and he talks and he talks and he cries a little too because he lost the one thing he was living for, because he had nothing else to live for, _ no one else to live for _ , and Donghyuck only rubs his arm in encouragement and comfort because Donghyuck _ always _knows, he had already caught onto why Mark never had visitors, why there were no flowers on his bed.

But when Donghyuck dries his tears and hushes him, reminds him there are so many more things in the future to live for, so many more _ people _ in the future to live for, Mark sniffles one last time and in his tear-ridden haze thinks Donghyuck is truly one of the Earth’s finest jewels, inside and out, and maybe Mark _ does _ have something- no, _ someone _to live for, and that someone is right here.

—- 

Mark Lee is 20 when he falls in love with the breathtaking enigma that is Lee Donghyuck.

He doesn’t know when or how it happens, but it hits him, full force like a blow to the gut, when they decide to sneak onto the rooftop, taking the elevator only reserved for janitors. 

Mark shakily puts his crutches to the side and sits down on one of the plastic chairs, tearing his eyes away from the sunset behind the tall buildings to Donghyuck, who wheels himself next to him.

Mark feels like he’s been sucker-punched, watching Donghyuck sunbathe in all his glory, his skin dripping in gold and honey and caramel and everything sweet, tantalizing, so tantalizing Mark wants to know how it tastes, how _ he _tastes.

Turns out Donghyuck tastes like cheap hospital candy and the sharp flavor of medicine, but Mark doesn’t mind, pulling the wheelchair closer to him and angling their lips so the kiss goes deeper, and he’s falling, sinking into this enigma of Lee Donghyuck. 

He never wants it to end, each small noise that comes from the back of Donghyuck’s throat, a little whine or a little giggle, but it ends as Donghyuck tears his lips away, gasping.

Mark can’t look away, he doesn’t want to, he could stare at Donghyuck with his dripping honey skin and his swollen cherry lips, for _ hours _ upon _ hours. _

“You idiot, I like you so much, _ I love you, I love you _.” But Donghyuck is crying, crying, these beautiful but heart-wrenching sobs, and Mark doesn’t know why, so he pulls Donghyuck into his lap with some effort, ignoring the horrible clench of pain in his hip, and he kisses the crown of Donghyuck’s head, his soft hair. 

This time, Mark is the one to console, the one to whisper, “It’s gonna be okay.” 

Even if he doesn’t believe it himself, even if he knows their days together are numbered. 

—-

Mark is 9 months away from turning 21 when he’s holding two cones of ice cream he snuck from the staff break room in one hand, awkwardly crutching towards Donghyuck’s room. Today is the day when the doctors usually wheel the TV into his room and they binge watch reruns of old TV shows while curling into each other’s embrace, the ones that make Mark laugh hysterically and make Donghyuck knit his eyebrows in confusion, wondering what’s so comical.

When Mark walks in, he expects the familiar smell of Donghyuck, the one that frequently changes based on what shampoo Donghyuck feels like using that day, but it’s usually the soft smell of cocoa butter and vanilla.

However, he’s greeted by the sharp, nose-pinching smell of disinfectant, and an empty, immaculately smooth white bed. Not a single wrinkle.

Mark swallows, his heart thundering in his chest.

A doctor walks in behind him, and she stops in her tracks when their gazes meet.

“You- You were his friend, weren’t you?”

Mark hesitates before nodding. Friend, boyfriend, somewhere in between.

“I’m so sorry.” She says, patting his arm, before walking into the adjoining room. Mark’s eyes follow her go, his brain rapidly processing her words, and he trips on his feet as he tries to walk backwards, ice cream hitting the floor and splattering everywhere.

_ I’m so sorry. _

_ I’m so sorry. _

_ I’m so sorry. _

Mark can’t breathe, claws raking the insides of his throat and his heart is clenching so _ painfully, _ he stumbles, his crutches almost losing balance on the cold tiled floor, because Donghyuck is _ gone, _ Donghyuck isn’t here, he’s _ nowhere. _ He gasps for air, tears are blurring his vision and he can’t see straight, he can’t see anything, because Lee Donghyuck, the enigma, the beautiful enigma he is in love with, _ no, no, was _in love with is gone, and he can feel it in the air, the way it has been sucked of all warmth, that it’s true.

He falls to the ground, a wretched sob escaping his throat in pain as his hip hits the floor with a crack, but he can’t register that pain, no, not that physical pain, all he can register is the pain he’s feeling in his chest, in his head, sharp and stinging and hot, because he’s empty, there’s nothing left and it’s _ hollow _because Donghyuck had taken it all, Donghyuck had taken everything ugly of his and made it beautiful.

—- 

Mark Lee is 22 when his now-diagnosed arthritis, now leading to a fatal stroke, steals his last breath.

He is in his bed, fingers enclosed around the rusted golden ring on his pointer finger, the ring he had never taken off.

He can hear the rush of doctors near him, talking loudly but not, rushing to aid him and to figure it out but he can hear the heart monitor in a daze and he can hear the beeping starting to slow down, and he smiles, because there is no white light or tunnel, there is only Donghyuck, beautiful and smiling as he reaches out with a hand. 

As he exhales one last time he thinks,

_ I’m coming, Donghyuck. _

**Author's Note:**

> hmu on twt @markyongmixtape but im an nsfw acc so beware!!  
lmk how this was!! curiouscat.me/subbyrenjuns


End file.
